Love By Design
by SpeedlesChic
Summary: A classic love story. Tim Speedle wasn't looking for love but when he meets a young woman name Lauren he may just change his mind.
1. A Dog Named Rocky

Two crime scene investigators arrived on the scene, their boss already walking through the scene with the homicide detective. Lt. Horatio Caine turned around hearing his CSIs come up behind him. "Eric, Speed I must warn you that the scene is gruesome," Horatio Caine said taking of his sunglasses. CSIs Eric Delko and Timothy 'Speed' Speedle looked at their boss and nodded. Scenes like these weren't new to the two men. In fact it seemed like every other case they had worked was gruesome.

The formal blackout drapes covering the windows made the room look dark and cold, despite the hot Miami sun shining outside. Eric and Speed took in the surroundings of the big living room. Speed looked down at the dead man then at the Medical Examiner, Dr. Alexx Woods; Horatio walked in the room.

"Alexx, do we have an idea on cause of death?" Horatio asked.

"Well, just by looking at him he's got ligature marks around his neck, bruising on his stomach and chest area. I'll no more after the post," Alexx said feeling for any identification. "No ID, Horatio, he's a John Doe. I'll collect any trace and DNA evidence back at the lab."

"Okay. Thank you, Alexx." The Medical Examiner motioned for the body haulers to come and take John Doe away. Horatio turned to face Eric and Speed. "Search everywhere. We have nothing on the victim." The CSIs nodded again and went to work, while Horatio went to see if he could dig up any information on their John Doe.

"This place creeps me out," Eric said as he scrunched up his face and looked around the room.

Speed let out a half laugh. "No, what creeps you out is commitment… When is the last time you were in a relationship that actually lasted two months?"

Eric gave him a look. "When's the last time you had a girlfriend?"

"Last week but I ended it," Speed stated photography some torn fabric where the male victim had been.

"What happened?" Eric asked intrigued.

After placing the piece of fabric in a clear evidence bag, Speed looked up and Eric. "She was crazy." He placed the bag in his kit and stood up. "I have to go grab some evidence boxes since someone forgot because he was too busy looking at the woman a crossed the street." Eric gave Speed a look as if to say 'shut it'. Eric could hear Speed laugh as he walked out the door.

A couple blocks down they way, Speed spotted a black and tan German shepherd was running loose. He figured the owner was nearby so he turned to grab some evidence boxes. The dog looked ahead as he kept running and spotted the Miami-Dade CSI standing at the back of his hummer. The German shepherd went to investigate. The dog picked up his pace and continued to get closer to the man. The dog began to bark making Speed turn around; he was a little startled.

Seeing Speed looking down at him, the German shepherd sat down on the sidewalk and stared at him. Speed stared back. The German Shepherd lifted his right paw up like he wanted to shake his hand. Speed smiled as he put the evidence boxes on the ground, and bent down to the dog's level.

Speed was unsure of what to do. He didn't know if the dog would lash out at him or be like a puppy and cuddle up to him. But seeing the dogs submissive body language he quickly pushed the mean dog behavior out of his mind. "Hi doggie, do you have a name," he said looking for a color and dog tags. He spotted them when the sunshine hit the silver tags. He saw the dogs name was Rocky and that he was well loved, because he had a tag on the read, 'I am loved'. Speed was about to say something when he heard a woman's voice call out.

"ROCKY!" she shouted. "Rocky come here boy!"

Speed looked back down at the dog. "Looks like someone is looking for you. You better go to her." Rocky just sat there staring at him. Taking his eyes off the dog he saw the young woman coming closer. She was wearing business attire and he figured she was about to leave for work or was late for work. She had long dark brown hair that was parted on the side. The woman must have been looking for her dog for a while, because she had her high heels in her hand instead of on her feet; she had on a pair of black flip flops.

* * *

About a block away the woman spotted her dog standing next to a man who looked like he left his house in a hurry. 'Much like me,' she thought to herself. As she got closer she could make out his face. He was cute, really cute. His dark hair and scruffy look was something she liked. "Rocky come here boy, please. Mommy needs to go to work. I'm late now," Lauren said exhausted and it wasn't even 9:00a.m yet.

"I take it this is your dog?" Speed asked with a smile. This young woman was cute. The first thing he noticed was her hazel green eyes; they were intoxicating.

"Yeah, he is. I'm sorry if he was bothering you. He's never done this before. Usually he doesn't run off. I don't know what got into him," Lauren started to explain.

"It's not a problem Miss…" Speed trailed off.

"Oh! Lauren, Lauren Rafalski and you are?" She held out her hand for him to shake.

"Tim Speedle." He gladly shook her hand. Lauren noticed his police badge.

"You're one of the CSIs working for Lt. Caine aren't you?" Speed nodded. "I see you guys in the news. You do great work, and since you found my dog that puts you tops in my book." Lauren took Rocky's leash and latched it onto his collar. "Listen, I need to go. I'm like a half an hour late for work. It was nice meeting you Officer Speedle."

"It was nice to meet you to, Lauren." The two exchanged smiles and went their separate ways.

When they were about thirty feet apart both of them looked back at one another and huge smiles spread across their faces. They both hoped they would see one another again.

* * *

Back up in the house, Eric was wondering what was taking his partner so long. He looked out the window and had seen Speed talking to a young woman then saw him walk back into the house. "So Speed who was that cute girl out there?"

"Delko she lost her dog and was looking for him. Her dog stopped next to me so I waited till she got to him. I didn't want him to run away she was already late for work," Speed explained.

"Sure Speed. I saw you checking her over." Eric grinned his Delko grin.

"Whatever let's just get this scene processed so we can get back to the lab and solve the case." Eric decided to let it go and do as Speed said, finish processing the scene.


	2. We Meet Again

Lauren Rafalski opened the door to her work place, MKS Designs. She looked down at her cell phone and saw she was an hour late. "Shit," she mumbled to herself. The receptionist looked over at her and gave her a look of 'you are so dead, Michelle is in a bad mood.' "This day just keeps getting better and better." Her voice sarcastic.

As if right on cue, her boss walked out of her office. "Lauren, office right now!"

"Can I-"

"No you can't do anything. Office right now," Michelle ordered. Lauren sighed and looked at the receptionist, Mary Schwarz. She shrugged her shoulders.

Lauren walked into the spacious office. Not much was in there except a desk and a small loveseat. "Lauren this is the third day in a row you've been late. It gets later every day. I can't have an employee working for me who consistently shows up late," Michelle said furious.

"Michelle, I called you both time saying that I was in a traffic jam on the causeway. It's not my fault. Yeah today was different, but my dog ran loose and I had to go after him. I wasn't going to leave him running around Miami. You have a family and a dog can't you understand?" Lauren said somewhat annoyed.

"I do not care, Miss Rafalski. You be here on time or you don't come at all. This is your last warning. Now go get me some coffee, I haven't had any yet." Lauren sighed, and went out to get her boss her coffee from Starbucks; it was just around the corner.

* * *

The line at the coffee shop was surprisingly long. A couple in front of her was holding hands. They looked back at her and she smiled. Over at the pick-up station, a father and his young daughter stood waiting for their drinks. Lauren had to smile again. The daughter was trying to teacher her father the proper Starbucks language.

Before she knew it, it was Lauren's turn to order. "Hi, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?"

"The usual Maggie," Lauren said fishing through her purse for some money.

"Oh! Hi Lauren! I didn't even see you come in. How's the boss been?" Margaret Jenson asked.

"Ugh, do you even have to ask? Rocky got lose this morning and ran down the street. I found him like three blocks down. Thank God this police officer found him… you know it was so funny. Rocky was sitting down next to him. He wasn't even trying to get away." Lauren looked behind her and saw no one was in line. "So I finally got him home, and put him in his cage until Nana Rose wanted to come over and let him out." Nana Rose was Lauren's 80 year old neighbor.

"Aww, I'm sorry Lauren. I hope things get better for you… at work I mean."

"Thanks. I almost got fired today. I can't lose my job. I'd be homeless for sure."

Margaret placed Lauren's order. "Alright, your total comes to $8.50."

Lauren began to search for her wallet again; it was nowhere to be found. "Ugh! Seriously can today get any worse? I forgot my wallet. Forget it Maggie I have no money. I can't pay for it."

Margaret was about to say something when a man walked up behind Lauren and said, "I got this." He handed Margaret a ten dollar bill. "Keep the change."

That voice sounded familiar to Lauren, so she turned around and to her surprise her police officer was standing there, Tim Speedle. Margaret took the $10 and began to whip up Lauren's order.

"Thanks… Officer Speedle," was all Lauren could say.

"It's not a problem, and you can call me Tim."

Lauren smiled and said, "Okay, thank you Tim. I believe this is the second time you've saved my life today."

"I guess you could say that." He smiled back.

"How will I ever repay you?" Lauren chuckled.

Feeling adventurous he said, "How about a cup of coffee this Saturday here… at noon?" Without thinking Lauren said she would be there. They quickly exchanged numbers and parted ways.

Lauren turned around to a smiling Margaret. "Look at you! Hot date this Saturday."

Lauren glared at her and said, "Shut up. It's not a date. I'm just thanking him for catching Rocky and paying for these drinks." She grabbed her order from the counter.

"Mhmm, yeah sure. I saw the look on both of your faces. You like him and he likes you… a lot. Oh and how are you going to break it to the boss that you can't make it to her event?"

Lauren scrunched up her face. "What?"

"Yeah, didn't you tell me she had some event planned at some expo this Saturday?"

"Shit! What am I going to do?" The front entrance to the coffee shop opened and a group of about twenty people entered. Lauren said her goodbyes to Margaret and left. Lauren needed to get back to her job too.

Just before she entered her workplace she smiled to herself. Speed was very handsome and Margaret was right, she liked him. Now all she needed to do was figure out how to break the news to her cranky boss.


	3. Love At First Sight?

Saturday morning was moving along all too slow for Speed. There were no crime scenes to attend; there were no court hearings to attend; there hadn't been any evidence to process. He and his co-workers, Eric Delko, Calleigh Duquesne, Dr. Alexx Woods, and Lt. Horatio Caine all sat in the break room conducting small talk.

"I think this is the first time we haven't actually been busy," Eric said sitting down next to Calleigh and Speed.

"It's been awhile I know that," said Alexx. "I need it. You don't know what is like having two young kids at the ages of ten and twelve."

"And I don't want to know yet, Alexx," Eric said picking up that day's newspaper. He quickly skimmed over the political and police blotter sections. He stopped when he saw a picture of a familiar young woman he had just recently seen. "Hey Speed, isn't this the woman you saw a few days ago? The one with the runaway German shepherd." He passed Speed the newspaper so he could take a look.

Speed took the paper and looked at where Eric was pointing. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. It was Lauren Rafalski. "Yeah that's her," he said without taking his eye off the paper. She was standing with a group of four other women. All the women were pretty, but not as beautiful as Lauren. There was something about her; she was the one.

"Can I have my paper back, and here's a napkin to wipe the drool off your face," Eric said handing him a paper towel. Everyone in the room laughed.

Speed gave his friend a look and threw the paper towel back at him. "Very funny, Delko."

Calleigh peeked over Eric's shoulder and read the photo caption. "Looks like this Lauren Rafalski woman is an interior designer, and she's working for the top designer in Miami and California, Michelle Simpson," she said. "I always loved interior design. I thought about doing that before picking law enforcement."

"I'm glad you picked this job," Eric said.

Changing the subject Speed said to Horatio, "Hey H, is it alright if I take an hour lunch right now?"

Horatio looked at his watch and said, "Yeah sure Speed. Just keep your phone on in case we need you. I doubt it today, but just in case." Speed thanked his boss and said goodbye to his co-workers.

"Ten bucks says he's going to see this Lauren Raflaski chick," Eric said pulling out his wallet.

"You are so bad Eric. So what if he's going to see her. Be happy for him," Calleigh said.

"I'm happy for him it's just kinda funny… don't ask questions please. It's just how I feel." Calleigh made a face and got up to grab her lunch. Alexx said Eric was something else and headed to her office, while Horatio had a phone call to make.

The sun beat down on, Speed as he made his way up to the coffee shop. His black shirt and dark denim jeans didn't help him much, and his Ducati motorcycle left him vulnerable to the Miami heat and humidity. He peeked into the coffee shop, and didn't see Lauren anywhere. Speed looked at his watch, it read: 11:55am. "Five minutes," he said aloud and walked into the shop.

Right away he noticed the young woman, who had been working yesterday was behind the counter. Speed gave a little wave then found a seat near the window and waited. Feeling the need to check his phone he pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open. There was a voicemail message. He hit the one key and pressed send. His phone didn't ring, but went straight to his messages. "Hi Tim, it's Lauren Rafalski the girl you met all around town yesterday." She giggled. "Just letting you know I might be a little late. My boss is having a huge event tonight, and she needs me twenty-four seven. Plus the location moved back to our studio. But don't worry I will be there. I promise." Speed listened to the rest of what his voicemail had to say before hanging up.

Over at the counter, Margaret pull her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick text message saying Tim Speedle has arrived.

* * *

Lauren felt and heard her phone go off. Michelle's office was complete chaos. You would think with three other designers working this event it would be simple to set up, but people were tripping over carpet samples, Michelle's new magazines, other magazines, and fabric rolls. The receptionist, Mary was having a hard time keeping up with everything. New potential customers kept filing in. Lauren couldn't believe she was allowing all these walk-ins; surely her boss was losing it.

Sneaking off to the bathroom, Lauren checked her phone for the text message. It was from Margaret. It read: Get your ass over here. Tall dark and handsome has arrived. Lauren laughed out loud and started devising a plan to step away for at least a half hour. It wasn't going to be easy. Nothing was when Michelle was in a mood.

Casually walking to the front of the office, Lauren spotted Brittany Roswell, Jillian Walkens, and Casey Figginson – the three other designers – and asked for a favor. "Hey guys, I know this is a lot to ask, but I need to step out for about an hour. I'm meeting someone at Starbucks. Can you cover for me?" Lauren asked hopeful. She would have done it for them.

"Make it a quick one hour. We'll do everything we can to distract her," Brittany said smiling. "Oh and you need to tell us all about him later tonight." Lauren thanked her friends and headed out the door.


	4. The Start Of Something Wonderful

Speed sat quietly in his seat while he anxiously waited for Lauren to arrive. He looked behind him and saw Lauren's friend, Margaret watching him. He suddenly became nervous. He felt like he was about to be interrogated by Horatio, something he never wanted to deal with.

He spied a newspaper on the table in front of him, and picked it up hoping this would help his nerves, but it didn't. It was the newspaper Eric had shown him earlier. It had a photo of Lauren and her co-workers in it. Speed set it back down on the table; he began to fidget. "I shouldn't of had that extra energy drink this morning," he said to himself. He'd never been so nervous in his entire life. Speed closed his eyes just for a moment to collect his thoughts. As he did this Lauren walked into the coffee shop.

Lauren removed her sunglasses, and walked up to the ordering counter; she hadn't noticed Speed. "Hey Maggie! Can I get a Venti coffee please or whatever the biggest size is," Lauren said sighing as she opened her purse. "I swear this woman is going to kill me. I can't take these stupid freaking events she does like every month, and I had to sneak out to come here."

"Hi! Don't worry about the coffee, it's on me, and after this whole Michelle's once a month party we'll go to spa, and have a girl's day."

Lauren sighed. "Thank you and that would be great… if I could ever get a real day off."

Margaret handed Lauren her large cup of coffee and said, "Well when you get a real day off let me know. You can also tell me about what's about to happen with Tim. Your man is sitting over there."

Lauren almost spit out her sip of coffee. "Margaret, he's not my man. We're just having coffee," she whispered.

"Yeah sure, Lauren. Whatever you say…" Maggie trailed off and went on her break.

Meanwhile, Speed had finally taken notice of, Lauren. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She looked absolutely stunning in her form fitting little black dress. "Wow," he said aloud as Lauren walked over him.

"Sorry I'm a little late. I had to sneak away from work. My boss is a control freak with no life, and thinks everyone else has no life either," Lauren said plopping down in the chair next to Speed. He couldn't take his eyes off her.

He licked his lips. "No, it's okay. You don't have to apologize. But aren't you working for the biggest designer in Miami?"

Lauren crossed her right leg over her left. "Oh yes. In fact she thinks she's the top designer in the entire universe." She sighed. "I shouldn't have taken this job. I had so many offers back home… and just… things would be so different." Lauren stopped and realized she was rambling on. "Ugh, I'm sorry, Tim. It's just been one of those days." She took a big sip of her coffee.

Speed half laughed. "It's okay. I have a lot of those days. So, where's home at?"

"Southeast Michigan. I loved it there. I miss the cold winters the most and my family and friends. It's so beautiful during the fall with the changing leaves, and we have great sports teams… and Vernors pop."

"Pop and Vernors?"

Lauren smiled. "I believe the rest of the world calls is soda. Michigan is probably the only state that calls soda, pop, and Vernors is a ginger ale pop. Much sweeter than Canada Dry. Much tastier too. Again it's a Michigan thing."

Speed noticed a sparkle appear in Lauren's eyes as she talked about her hometown. He wished he felt like that about New York. "Sounds interesting and I think I've seen the Vernors… pop around here."

"Well, Florida is the state where all the Michigan senior citizens come to once they retire. They want to get away from the cold weather." Speed just laughed. "So… enough of my rambling, what about you? You from around here?"

"Uh, no actually. I'm from New York… Jamaica Queens. Nothing special really," Speed said nonchalantly.

Looking at him, Lauren could sense unhappy memories had taken place when he was younger. "Not so good memories?"

Speed shrugged his shoulders. "For the most part they were good, but as I got older things sort of began to fall apart."

"Yeah… I know what you mean. Everything is going great and then one day your life just comes crashing down."

When Speed was seventeen, he and his best friend Andy Schwarz went on their senior class trip; everyone decided that upstate New York was the ideal place. They could ski, snowmobile, play hockey, and hangout. Speed wasn't sure he wanted to go, but Andy convinced him. The first few days had been incredible. The snow conditions were perfect for skiing and snowmobiling. Speed was having the time of his life, but on the last day of the trip everything changed. Andy wanted to go snowmobiling one last time. Speed didn't want to because they had a lot to do before it was time to leave, but after some convincing Andy finally got Speed and a few other people to go.

The final ride had gone smoothly until they had come upon a rocky pathway; no one had noticed until it was too late. Andy was going a little faster than he was supposed to when he hit a bump in the path. His snowmobile went flying in the air, and came crashing down on top of him. Andy was instantly paralyzed from the neck down.

Speed didn't think things could get any worse, but just a year and a half later it did. Andy underwent a surgical procedure that could possibly let him walk again. Everything had gone fine until he went into cardiac arrest. The doctors had worked on him for over forty-five minutes, but sadly nothing they had done worked. Andy had died.

Lauren's story was just as horrific and devastating. A little over a year ago, when she had moved to Miami for work, her family – her mother, father, younger sister, older brother and her sister-in-law – decided to come down and visit. Lauren loved her family. Lauren wanted to have a big family once she found the right guy.

The day her world came crashing down had been the day her family had left to go back home to Michigan. Lauren had taken her family to the airport with the exception of her sister. Her parents allowed her to stay behind for a few more days.

Lauren watched her family disappear down the airport halls and head to their gate, but just a few short hours later she received a heartbreaking phone call. Their plane had crashed into the Gulf of Mexico; no bodies had been discovered.

Speed felt his cell phone vibrate against his hip, and at the same time Lauren's cell phone began to ring; it was Horatio and Michelle. "I guess it means our one hour is up them," Lauren said after finishing her call. "Back to reality. I swear this woman is going to kill me one of these days."

They both stood up. "Yeah, I'm needed back at work. A triple homicide in Coral Gables," Speed said.

"So I guess I'll see you around then, Tim?" she asked.

Speed smiled. "Yeah. I hope so." For a moment the two just stared into each other's eyes. Both felt a comforting sensation run down their backs. "Um… I know this might be a little fast, and you don't have to say yes… I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out tonight… for dinner… like a date," Speed blurted out.

Lauren looked up at him and grinned. She was about to say yes, but then remembered Michelle's event. "Um, I would really love to Tim, but this whole event my boss is putting on. I probably won't get out until like ten or eleven." He looked deflated. "I'm sorry Tim," she apologized.

"No, it's okay. I understand."

Feeling guilty about saying no, Lauren said, "Actually, dinner sounds great. I won't have any energy to cook dinner after work… I don't even have a kitchen right now."

Speed arched an eyebrow. "You don't have a kitchen?"

"Long story short, I bought a fixer-upper house, and the process is moving at snail speed. But anyway, I'll call you after I get off work and we can meet somewhere."

Speed's smile couldn't get any bigger. "Yeah that sounds good. Call me later then?"

"Definitely." Lauren's phone vibrated. There were three messages. One from Casey, Jillian, and Brittany saying get down to the office ASAP. "Okay I need to get going before I get fired. Thank God I work just down the block."

Speed made note of Lauren's last words and the two said their goodbyes, but before Lauren left she ordered Michelle a large iced mocha frappaccino. Work couldn't end fast enough for them.


	5. Chapter 5

Speed arrived, on scene fifteen minutes later. Eric and Calleigh had grabbed a CSI kit for him so he wouldn't have to head back to the lab. Speed hoped this triple homicide case would make the rest of the day go by faster. He couldn't wait to see Lauren again. It was crazy, but he felt like she was already the one for him. Speed wanted to marry her.

"Hey Speed! How'd your date go with that hot interior designer?" Eric asked as a smirk spread a crossed his face.

"It wasn't a date, Delko. Lauren was just thanking for paying for her coffee a couple days ago, and for catching her dog before he ran off," Speed said taking his kit from Calleigh.

"Wait! She was the girl at our crime scene the other day wasn't she?" Eric asked.

"Yeah," was all Speed said as he walked over to Horatio. They needed to get to work. Time was ticking and they needed to solve this case.

"I swear, you two are worse that a bickering couple," Calleigh said in her sweet southern voice.

"Calleigh, come one. I mean we're just teasing each other. That's what friends do. He does it to me all the time."

Calleigh laughed. "Come on. We have a huge crime scene to process. Horatio's waiting. You two can tease another day."

Horatio walked into the house in Coral Gables with his team and Detective Frank Tripp behind him. Normally, when dealing with a triple homicide you would image a horrible and bloody scene. This scene was far from that. Every corner of the house was spotless. The only disturbance in the house were the three dead bodies scattered around the house; one body on each of the three floors.

Alexx was in the living room tending to the first victim, a male. "Alexx… do we have anything on our first victim here?" Horatio asked removing his sunglasses.

"Well, Horatio… all I've got is this guy's time of death. Other than that I've got nothing. I'll hopefully know after the post. But time of death was around eight this morning. So about five hours ago. No defense wounds. No ligature marks. No nothing," Alexx said as she stood up. She motioned for the body haulers to haul the first victim away. "I'm going to head to the second and third victims. I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Okay. Thank you, Alexx. Frank, do we know who called this in, and do we have any IDs in the victims?" Horatio asked turning to the homicide detective.

"The caller was anonymous, but by the sounds of it the caller was a male," Frank said looking at his notes. "No one was on the scene when we arrived either, and no IDs on any of the victims. No wallets were on them."

"Speed, Calleigh take the first floor. Bag and tag anything that seems unusual. Eric come up to the second floor with me."

"I'll go see if I can get the caller," Frank said exiting the house.

Calleigh and Speed set their kits down and grabbed some latex gloves from it. "This is going to be fun. Nothing is out of place. Nothing seems different about this place," Speed said grabbing a mini flashlight.

"Well, we'll have to look even harder then," Calleigh said grabbing her mini flashlight too.

Calleigh and Speed searched the entire first floor, and all they found were some grocery receipts and a credit card statement that said the owner of record, Jim Pearson owed a total of one hundred thousand dollars. Speed bagged the credit card statement for later analysis.

"I hope Delko is having better luck on the second floor," Speed said placing the evidence into the evidence box.

"Well, at least we found who the potential owner of this house is, and possibly one of the victims," Calleigh said trying to sound positive. "The first floor wasn't a total loss."

Just then Speed's cell phone beeped. He had a text message. "If this is Delko…" Speed said trailing off. He looked at his phone. It wasn't Eric. It was Lauren. Speed smiled and flipped open his phone.

Lauren's text message read: _Omg! I don't know if I'm going to make it through this. My boss is a bitch. I'm going to be here so late. If you want we can reschedule our dinner date._

Speed replied back: _I'm sorry. I'm off tomorrow so it doesn't matter if you get out late. Let me know when you get off. We can meet and McKenna's, on the bay. Text me when you get out. I'll probably be working later than normal too._

Calleigh looked over at her friend, and saw that smile on his face. She knew he was texting Lauren.

Lauren replied back: _I don't know where that is. I haven't had much time to do anything since I moved here._

Speed responded: _That's not a problem. Just send me a text when you are about to get off work and I'll come to you and you can follow me. Don't worry about anything else. Just focus on getting through work._

Lauren responded: _Thank you so much, Tim. I appreciate it. I'll buy the drinks. Don't argue with me. See you later tonight. :)_

Speed sent one last text: _Then I'm paying for the food. It's not a problem. See you later._

Speed shut his phone and found Calleigh starting at him. "What?"

Calleigh's grin got bigger. "Tim and Lauren sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" she sang. Speed's cheeks turned a light shade of red. She started laughing. "Tim, I'm happy for you. I hope you two do get together. You look really happy."

"Thanks, Calleigh," Speed said with a smile.

Horatio came back into the room with Eric behind him. Horatio had searched the third floor while Eric had searched the second. "Speed, Calleigh, did you guys find anything?" Horatio asked.

"Just this," Calleigh said holding up the credit card statement. "A credit card statement. This guy owed a lot of money. We think this could belong to the first victim, Jim Pearson."

"You guys find one too?" Speed asked seeing pieces of paper in both Horatio and Eric's hands.

"Yeah, a credit card statement for, Stephen Pearson. He owed one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars," Eric said.

"And a credit card statement for, Gloria Pearson. She owed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars," Horatio said. "Judging by the last names, it seems as though they're all family."

"Yeah, and it looks like they're all in debt," Speed said. "The killer came back to collect, maybe. I don't know. There's nothing here. The house is clean."

Horatio thought for a moment then said, "Yeah… maybe. Let's take these statements back to the lab, and see what we can dig up. I'll follow up with Alexx. She's all we got." Horatio put his sunglasses back on. "I'll meet you guys back at the lab." Horatio left the crime scene.


End file.
